Foreign minister Javad Zarif advises US president to respect country after warning
The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has hit back at Donald Trump’s “genocidal taunts” after a strongly worded warning from Trump that Tehran should not think of attacking the US.
Related: Trump tweets threat: 'If Iran wants to fight, that will be the end of Iran'
Continue reading...Top executive says dispute is about trade, not security, after Trump issued order aimed at cutting off firm from US supplies
The US ban on sharing technology with Huawei was a “cynically timed” blow in the escalating trade war between the US and China, the Chinese firm’s top executive in the UK has said.
Huawei denounced Donald Trump’s ban on the sharing of US tech with “foreign adversaries”, after a string of US tech companies followed Google in restricting the company’s access to their products on Monday.
Continue reading...Donald Trump sought on Monday to discredit a New York Times report that Deutsche Bank employees flagged concerns over transactions involving legal entities controlled by the president and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Related: Deutsche Bank staff saw suspicious Trump and Kushner activity – report
Continue reading...Senior attorneys in the executive branch were once seen as guard rails on the president but now seem to be enabling his most constitutionally dubious actions
Not everyone thinks Donald Trump poses a direct and obvious threat to the rule of law. When he accuses FBI investigators of “treason”, declares his campaign was “conclusively spied on” and suggests “long jail sentences”, there is often an assumption that cooler legal heads in the justice department and White House will prevail against the impulsive president.
But as Trump’s test of constitutional boundaries intensifies, critics say, the supposedly cooler heads seem to be simmering.
Continue reading...Reported move could hit Huawei Technologies’ ability to run phone operating system
Google has suspended Huawei’s access to updates of its Android operating system and chipmakers have reportedly cut off supplies to the Chinese telecoms company, complying with orders from the US government as it seeks to blacklist Huawei around the world.
In a fresh blow to Huawei, Google said it was complying with Donald Trump’s executive order and was reviewing the “implications”, after Reuters initially reported the story.
Continue reading...As Donald Trump opened fire on Justin Amash, the Michigan representative who became the first Republican in Congress say he had engaged in “impeachable conduct”, Mitt Romney declined to join the fight.
Related: Justin Amash becomes first Republican to back Trump impeachment
Continue reading...Formally launching his third presidential campaign, Joe Biden appealed for party and national unity while accusing Donald Trump of leading the US with ‘a clenched fist, a closed hand and a hard heart’. But, he said, ‘we are the United States of America and there is not a single thing we cannot do if we are together’. Biden was a senator representing Delaware for 36 years and vice-president to Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. He was a relatively late entrant to the sprawling field seeking the Democratic nomination in 2020, with 23 candidates now in the running
Continue reading...Congressman says Mueller report ‘identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice’
The Michigan congressman Justin Amash has called for Donald Trump to be impeached, adding a first Republican voice to a growing chorus of Democrats demanding Congress move against the president.
Amash is a libertarian and independent-minded politician who has flirted with the idea of a run against Trump in 2020, and has in turn been attacked by the White House. Elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010, he was a founder of the House Freedom Caucus, which has become a hard-right mouthpiece for Trump.
Continue reading...The passionate pro-Trump convert’s attack on the mainstream media occasionally sounds like ‘fake news’ itself
Americans’ distrust of the media is only exceeded by its disdain for Congress. Mark Levin’s latest book won’t do much to rehabilitate journalism but it should cement his standing among Trump’s go-to guys.
Related: The Mueller Report by the Washington Post review – the truth is out there… somewhere
Continue reading...House Democrat demands six years of tax returns and expects to take matter to court as early as next week
The US treasury secretary defied a House subpoena for Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday, setting up another potential court battle between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government.
Steven Mnuchin said in a letter that the subpoena from the House ways and means committee chairman, Richard Neal, a Democrat, was “unprecedented” and “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose”.
Continue reading...State’s Republican-led House joins states such as Alabama by passing sweeping bill, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest
The bill just passed in Missouri is designed not to go into effect – but to go to court. It is unconstitutional.
We published this analysis of near total abortion bans from Prof. B Jessie Hill this week. Hill is a professor at Case Western Reserve school of law and an expert in reproductive rights law.
Related: Could abortion become illegal in America? All signs point to yes | B Jessie Hill
Rather than pursuing the sort of incremental strategy that anti-abortion activists have favored in the past – such as banning abortions late in pregnancy, or attempting to gradually regulate abortion clinics out of existence with increasingly burdensome regulations – these newer laws are written to prohibit virtually all abortions in the state.
Fetal cardiac activity can be detected beginning at about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant. By banning all abortions after that point, “heartbeat” bans, if they take effect, would stop all but a very small percentage of abortions.
In addition to everything happening in Missouri today, the House debated the Equality Act, to expand protections for LGBT people.
The House just approved the Equality Act, a bill that would expand gay rights, extending to areas like employment, housing, loan applications, education and public accommodations.@SarahEMcBride of @HRC broke down the Equality Act for us ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ctY0DPxjqu
Continue reading...President called plan to transform the nation’s green card system ‘pro-American, pro-immigrant and pro-worker’
Donald Trump has announced plans for “merit-based” legal immigration – but before the US president even stepped up to the lectern in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday afternoon, opponents declared the sweeping reforms “dead on arrival”.
Trump appeared to acknowledge as much when he warned that Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, might block the changes – a sign of his political impotence as the next presidential election draws ever closer.
Continue reading...President unveiled new immigration strategy including favouring a 'merit'-based system over family ties, as well as making it a requirement that future immigrants learn English and pass a civics exam. Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, Trump said he wanted to increase the proportion of highly skilled immigration from 12% to 57%, adding: 'We discriminate against genius. We discriminate against brilliance. We won't any more.'
Continue reading...Chinese firm says ban on tech from ‘foreign adversaries’ will harm US consumers
Huawei has hit back at Donald Trump’s administration after it declared a national emergency to ban technology from “foreign adversaries” and subjected the Chinese telecommunications company to strict export controls.
An executive order issued by the US president on Wednesday declared a national economic emergency that empowers the government to ban the technology and services of “foreign adversaries” deemed to pose “unacceptable risks” to national security, including from cyber-espionage and sabotage.
Continue reading...Former media mogul who owned Daily Telegraph spent more than three years in prison
Conrad Black, the former media mogul who owned the Daily Telegraph and the Spectator before being jailed for fraud, has been pardoned by Donald Trump – shortly after writing a book praising the US president.
The Canadian-born British citizen was once known for his extravagant lifestyle as he ran an international newspaper empire that included the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post. But he ended up serving three and a half years in prison after being convicted in 2007 of siphoning off millions of dollars from the sale of newspapers owned by the company he controlled.
Continue reading...The US is closer to war with Iran than it has been since the Bush years, or perhaps ever. And Bolton is largely to blame
Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton wants the United States to go to war with Iran.
Related: Merkel: Europe must unite to stand up to China, Russia and US
Continue reading...Alabama has passed a near-total ban on abortion, making it a crime to terminate pregnancy at any stage. The abortion ban is the strictest in the US and allows an exception only when the pregnant woman’s health is at serious risk. The bill was passed by 25 votes to six and also contains no exception for rape or incest. If the procedure was to take place the doctor could be punished with 10 to 99 years in prison; the woman who had the abortion would not face criminal charges
Continue reading...Law bans abortion except if there is a ‘serious health risk’ to the mother, with no exceptions for rape and incest
Alabama’s Republican-controlled state senate passed a bill Tuesday to outlaw abortion, making it a crime to perform the procedure at any stage of pregnancy.
The strictest-in-the-nation abortion ban allows an exception only when the woman’s health is at serious risk, and sets up a legal battle that supporters hope will lead to the supreme court overturning its landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
Continue reading...Agreement averts confrontation over subpoena of president’s son in Russia investigation
Donald Trump Jr will testify in a closed-door interview with the Senate intelligence committee next month, pulling the two sides back from a confrontation over a subpoena as part of the panel’s Russia investigation.
Under the terms of the deal between the president’s son and lawmakers, Trump Jr will talk to the committee in mid-June for up to four hours, according to two people familiar with the agreement. The people spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday to discuss the confidential terms.
Continue reading...Donald Trump continued to defend his trade war with China on Tuesday, claiming “great patriot farmers” in the US would benefit from tariff increases that triggered sell-offs in stock markets across the world.
Related: Barr working with CIA to review Trump-Russia investigation, reports say – live
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